Second safe injection site in Vancouver's West End slips federal radar

VANCOUVER -- A B.C. Supreme Court decision that closing Vancouver's supervised injection site is unconstitutional was a victory for the site's supporters.

But another safe injection site has been operating quietly in the city since 2002, and officials there say the federal government's plan to appeal Tuesday's ruling will not stop them - even if the Conservatives succeed in their appeal.

The site is part of the Dr. Peter Centre, an HIV/AIDS-specific care facility in the west end. It's much smaller than Insite, but offers the same service - a place for heroin users to inject drugs under the watchful eye of health-care workers.

Maxine Davis, executive director of the Dr. Peter Centre, said it makes sense to offer a supervised injection site to patients whose illnesses go hand in hand with drug addiction.

The centre's safe injection site has the blessing of the B.C. College of Nurses, the Vancouver Police Department and the provincial government. Unlike the high-profile Insite, the Dr. Peter Centre's facility has never been threatened with closing - the federal government has not even acknowledged it. As recently as last week, inquiries about the site were bounced from one ministry to another as none seemed to know it existed.

Tuesday's court decision, which proclaimed heroin addiction to be a health issue, specifically mentioned Insite. Health Minister Tony Clement said yesterday that the government will appeal the decision.

Ms. Davis said the court ruling would give the Dr. Peter Centre case law with which to argue for its existence. Whether the federal government wins or loses its appeal, Ms. Davis said the site will continue to operate.

"We were clear and firm in our position that we were carrying on regardless of the decision that was made by the court," she said. "So, if the federal government wants to appeal it, we maintain our position that it is a professional nurses' practice."

OTTAWA -- Ottawa moved yesterday to close Canada's only sanctioned safe-injection site, announcing it will appeal a B.C. court ruling that Vancouver's Insite should stay open because reducing the risk of drug overdoses is a vital health service.

"In my opinion, supervised injection is not medicine; it does not heal the person addicted to drugs," Health Minister Tony Clement told the House of Commons health committee yesterday.

"Injection not only causes physical harm, it also deepens and prolongs the addiction. Programs to support supervised injection divert valuable dollars away from treatment. And government-sponsored supervised injection sends a very mixed message to young people who are contemplating the use of illicit drugs."

Mr. Clement told the committee he will ask Justice Minister Rob Nicholson to appeal a British Columbia Supreme Court ruling that saved Insite, North America's only sanctioned safe-injection facility, from closing at the end of June when its exemption from Canada's drug laws expires.